6 YouTube tricks, hacks and features you might not know

Most of us use YouTube as an entertainment media to pass our time or as a mentor to learn new skills. Millions of videos are uploading and billions of views are getting in each day. But are we utilizing YouTube at its full potential?

We know how to search and find a video on YouTube, what we didn’t know is some cool hidden YouTube tricks and features to improve the way of using this biggest video streaming social network.

Use YouTube like a pro — here are some of the best YouTube tricks and hacks probably you never knew. With these tricks and hidden features, improve the way how you use the YouTube to find the precise search results and video watching experience.

YouTube tricks, hacks and features for Android and desktop users:

1. Use YouTube in incognito mode

Watching YouTube videos in incognito mode is an exclusive feature available for Android app users. By using this feature, you can browse through the YouTube app without recording your watch and search history. To activate incognito mode in YouTube:

Clear search and watch history on YouTube Android app:

In setting you can also find options “Pause watch history” and “Pause search history” — enabling them will stop YouTube to record your search and watched videos data. So, enable this option, if you really want to protect your privacy and don’t let anyone know what you are searching and watching on YouTube.

Clear search and watch history on desktop version:

In the desktop version, click on hamburger icon on the top left corner to find “History” settings.

In history settings, you can see “Watch history” and “Search history” options. Choose respective radio buttons to clear data. Also, like in Android app, you can find “Pause watch history” and “Pause search history” options to stop YouTube from collecting this data in future.

Tweak YouTube URL tricks:

This YouTube trick one of the coolest one. Tweaking YouTube URLs to get the most out of the video. Like simply changing YouTube video URL you can convert, download and do so many things. Actually, most of these tweaking YouTube URL hacks are not an official — with help of some third-party websites, we are doing these YouTube hacks.

3. Make GIF from YouTube video

You can convert any part of a YouTube video into GIFs with caption and more advanced editing. For that, you simply have to add “gif” before the video link. Like below example:

YouTube video link:

youtube.com/watch?v=GfqODxio_50

Tweak URL by adding gif on starting to create GIF from YouTube video:

gifyoutube.com/watch?v=GfqODxio_50

4. Download YouTube videos without any software

With this trick, you can download YouTube videos to your local drive for future reference. Use this YouTube trick only to download videos for your own use and do not share them through any means. Multiple YouTube URL hacks are there to attain the best results — one is adding “ss” before video URL and other by adding “pwn“. Like below:

YouTube video link:

youtube.com/watch?v=GfqODxio_50

Change URL to download YouTube video:

ssyoutube.com/watch?v=GfqODxio_50

pwnyoutube.com/watch?v=GfqODxio_50

5. Loop YouTube video

Put a YouTube video in a continuous loop by adding “repeater” youtube in URL. Like this:

YouTube video link:

youtube.com/watch?v=GfqODxio_50

Change URL to loop a YouTube video:

youtuberepeater.com/watch?v=GfqODxio_50

6. Save thumbnail of a YouTube video

Most of us attract to YouTube videos by looking at its thumbnail and they are an integral part of a video, like a trailer for a movie — giving an idea about the video. Some of us wonder how to grab this images since there is no option for that.

But few of us only know by changing URL like this:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/<VideoID>/maxresdefault.jpg

Helps you to save full resolution YouTube thumbnail image. Where <VideoID> is the text after “v=” in YouTube video. Check out the example below:

YouTube video link:

youtube.com/watch?v=GfqODxio_50

Save thumbnail of this video:

https://img.youtube.com/vi/GfqODxio_50/maxresdefault.jpg

These YouTube tricks are the only tip of the iceberg, we will soon update this article with more hacks and tips for YouTube. Also, if you know any, do not hesitate to mention it in comments.

Founder and Editor-in-chief of TechLog360, who mainly publishes posts related to new technologies, gadgets and open-source world. His main hobbies are web designing, blogging, search engine optimization and making friends.